In Newsweek poll, President Bush’s approval rating dips to 55 percent. . . . Bush: “As long as I hold this office, I will never risk the lives of American citizens by assuming the goodwill of dangerous enemies.” . . . White House says budget deficit will reach $455 billion this year. . . . Club for Growth president Stephen Moore on proposed prescription-drug benefit: “We have not seen such an effort to expand the size and scope of the federal government since the Clintons’ health-care scheme in 1993.” . . . Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.), in USA Today: “The White House and Republican leadership have not accurately calculated the impact of this new federal entitlement on our conservative base. For us to even appear to become the party of entitlements . . . could have a very negative impact on the enthusiasm of conservative voters in the 2004 election.” . . . “That’s not the Republican party I know, to create such an entitlement,” says Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) of Medicare legislation, in Washington Post. “We’ve abandoned our principles.” . . . Ari Fleischer on growing war costs: “What about the cost of September 11? What is the cost of a country that is attacked? What is the price that the American people would have to pay if something like that were ever to happen again?”
Sen. John Edwards (D., N.C.), in New York Times: “It’s important that we not lose sight of the bigger picture, which is the enormous failure that is looming in Iraq right now.” . . . Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.): “Americans have a right to ask a question, ‘Are we safer today than we were three years ago?'” . . . More Kerry, on CNN: “I believe there are enormous questions still about the overall intelligence given to the Congress, the quality of that intelligence.” . . . Kerry in 1997: “Now that that [the Cold War] struggle is over, why is it that our vast intelligence apparatus continues to grow even as government resources for new and essential priorities fall far short of what is necessary?” . . . Sen. Joe Lieberman (D., Conn.), on Fox: “I have no doubt that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.”
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